Gemini Code Assist vs Roo Code

Gemini Code Assist vs Roo CodeComparisonUpdated 2026-03-18

SUMMARY

Gemini Code Assist (IDE) uses markdown configuration while Roo Code (IDE) uses markdown. They differ on 2 of 11 compared features. Both tools provide AI-assisted development but take different approaches to project configuration.

FEATURE COMPARISON

Feature	Gemini Code Assist	Roo Code	Notes
Config format	markdown	markdown
Hierarchy support	✓	✗	Whether config files can be placed at multiple directory levels
Global config	✗	✗	User-wide configuration outside any project
Project config	✓	✓
Subdirectory scoping	✓	✗	Config files in subdirectories that apply only to that subtree
File inclusion / imports	✗	✗	Ability to include or reference other files from config
Ignore file	✗	✗
IDE integration	✓	✓
Schema / structure	Free-form (Markdown)	Free-form (Markdown)	Whether config uses structured schema or free-form content
Git committed	✓	✓	Whether primary config files are intended to be version-controlled
Encoding	UTF-8	UTF-8

FILE MAPPING

Purpose	Gemini Code Assist	Roo Code
Project instructions	GEMINI.md	AGENTS.md
Project instructions	AGENT.md	AGENTS.local.md

SIDE-BY-SIDE CODE SAMPLES

Gemini Code Assist

GEMINI.md

markdown

# Project Rules

## Overview
E-commerce platform built with Go microservices and React frontend.
All services communicate via gRPC with Protocol Buffers.

## Go Services
- Follow standard Go project layout (cmd/, internal/, pkg/)
- Use structured logging with slog (not log or fmt.Println)
- Error handling: always wrap errors with fmt.Errorf("%w", err)
- Database access through repository pattern in internal/repo/
- All public functions must have godoc comments

## API Design
- Proto files live in proto/ directory with buf for linting
- Use field masks for partial updates
- Pagination via cursor-based tokens, not offset

## Testing
- Table-driven tests for all business logic
- Use testcontainers-go for integration tests
- Minimum 80% coverage on internal/ packages
- Mock external services with gomock interfaces

## Do Not
- Use global variables or init() functions
- Import internal packages across service boundaries
- Commit generated .pb.go files (CI generates them)

Roo Code

.roo/rules/*.md

markdown

# Code Standards

## TypeScript
- Enable strict mode in all tsconfig files
- No `any` types — use `unknown` and narrow
- Prefer interfaces over type aliases for object shapes

## React
- Functional components only
- Use custom hooks for shared stateful logic
- Colocate component, styles, and tests

## Git
- Conventional commits (feat:, fix:, chore:, etc.)
- Keep commits atomic and focused
- Squash merge feature branches

KEY DIFFERENCES

1. Hierarchy support

Gemini Code Assist: Supported. Roo Code: Not supported.

2. Subdirectory scoping

Gemini Code Assist: Supported. Roo Code: Not supported.

WHICH SHOULD I USE?

Recommendation

Choose based on your IDE/CLI preference. If you use Gemini Code Assist, configure GEMINI.md. If you use Roo Code, configure .roo/rules/*.md. Many projects include config files for multiple tools so each team member can use their preferred editor.

PORTABILITY TIP

sync-instructions.sh

bash

# Maintain a single source of truth:
cp AI-INSTRUCTIONS.md CLAUDE.md
cp AI-INSTRUCTIONS.md .cursorrules
cp AI-INSTRUCTIONS.md AGENTS.md